You may have seen on social media recently there has been a surge of stylists who are including how much their services cost when they post pictures of their work.
This is great news for our industry as it builds awareness that things can’t continue to be as cheap as they have been in the past. Hairdressing techniques in the past 5 years have seen major changes in the way that colours in particular are performed. I have mentioned in a previous blog post (https://www.tjjackshair.co.uk/post/blonde) that not so many moons ago you had either cap highlights (for a single colour) or foils for more than one colour. The colour was allowed to process for about 30 minutes then washed off. The colour your hair had lifted to was what you left with whether it was a nice blonde or a god awful blorange. Toners weren’t really a thing!
Now a single colour client can take all day. Lower levels of peroxide are used, the hair integrity is of the utmost importance and 99.9% of colour services are a double, if not triple process. I’m going to break this down because its a bit hairdressery speak –
Single process colour – your desired result is achieved in one application of colour. Can be on scalp (root colour) or in foils (multi-tonal result usually using light and dark colours)
Double process – your desired result cannot be achieved with only one colour application I.e you have foils with bleach to lift the hair which then has to be toned to achieve your desired result. All vivid colours are a double process as the hair has to be lifted before the vivid colour can be applied.
Triple process – some vivid colours can become a triple process if the lifted hair needs to be toned before applying the vivid colour. And some blonding sessions can become a triple process if you’ve got banding from previous colour etc etc
Obviously these descriptions are not exhaustive of every situation that we might find ourselves in, but it’s ok, because I know what I’m doing. I have getting on for 15 years experience under my belt and am constantly educating myself in what you need!
However this process has to be taken into consideration when setting my pricing. My time and knowledge is what you pay for as well as the products used. I have in the past been very guilty of emotionally discounting my services for a million and one different reasons but namely because its easier to charge less than speak up and say ‘actually this service has become a double process now so it will be (this) much extra’ and unfortunately it is hurting my business and my livelihood.
So going forward in the name of PRICE TRANSPARENCY my colour services will be priced as follows-
Single process – per service. Root colours are £38. Placement foils are £1 each. Highlights start from £60
Double (or more) process – hourly rate of £35. The hourly rate covers the time from when you arrive to when you leave. So the cost of your colour and cut and blow dry will be covered all by the same rate.
I hope this is easy to understand. Of course if you have any questions please get in touch and if you feel that these changes have now pushed my pricing out of your budget, again please get in touch because there are always options to achieve your desired results whether it's breaking your service down into shorter sessions or using a different technique, I’m always happy to help anyway I can because everybody deserves amazing hair.
Tara x